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Effexor withdrawal symptoms, along with Paxil withdrawal symptoms, have truly set the standard for pain and suffering from an antidepressant.
Effexor withdrawal symptoms can easily last two months or more, and some people don’t feel back to normal even after a year of discontinuation. (The half-life refers to the amount of time it takes the body to metabolize one-half of the drug.) Five hours is a frighteningly short half-life for a drug of this nature. It almost guarantees problems. In the next few paragraphs you’re going to learn just how serious this can be.
So what’s the ‘official’ word on withdrawal? Wyeth-Ayerst, the manufacturer of Effexor and Effexor XR, did a survey of all the patients in the clinical trial’s testing program. Also, from the FDA medical products reporting program, the list of withdrawal symptoms from Effexor include: agitation, anorexia, anxiety, confusion, coordination impaired, diarrhea, dizziness, dry mouth, dysphoric mood, fasciculation, fatigue, headaches, hypomania, insomnia, nausea, nervousness, nightmares, sensory disturbances (including shock-like electrical sensations), somnolence, sweating, tremor, vertigo, and vomiting. One more common effect not mentioned above is long term vision problems. Most likely, 35 percent is an underestimate of Effexor’s withdrawal problems. What’s not in dispute is the high number of ‘serious’ side effects from withdrawal.
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From: (this should help) http://www.join-the-fun.com/effexor-withdrawal.html